Interlude: Well, That Happened.

It seems that Donald Trump was just sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.

Well then.

I’ve seen a lot of posts to the tune of “this can’t be happening”/”this can’t be real”/”this must be a bad dream” after the election and in the weeks since, particularly given the influx of cabinet appointments of people who are either unqualified or have incredible conflicts of interest.

But as today and tomorrow are days of action around the country, today I’m going to focus on concrete action. Here are some things you can do to try to protect our wild spaces:

1. Donate to organizations who have made this work their work. Earthjusticeworks on turning science into environmental policy, and protecting the policies we already have in place from legal attack. The Sierra Club works to protect our lands and seas, and the Earth Policy Institute does work on environmental economics. If you’re not fiscally able to donate to these organizations, find an outdoors organization near you, and ask how you can help. Outdoors nonprofits are often looking for volunteers to do everything from trail work to help with accounting. Get involved however you can.

2. Keep your senators and congressfolk on speed dial.Know who your representatives are, at the local, state, and federal levels. If you don’t know who they are,find out. Pay attention to legislation affecting the environment in your city/county/state/country, or if you don’t generally hear about such legislation, set up a Google Alert for environmental legislation. Call or fax your representatives – make it short and sweet, and make sure they take down your name and zip code. Attend town halls they put on if you can make it to one in your area. They work for you, so make sure they know how you feel about environmental issues.

3. Speak out about environmental issues in your social networks.According to the Pew Research Center, about 40% of Americans get their news online. While it’s nice to see puppies and kittens and catch up with people via social media, it’s also a good place to disseminate information about topics that are important to you. Signing and sharing petitions online is useful, but it’s best to engage friends and family on these topics – both online and, if you get the time, in person. (I’d stay away from public comment threads, though – those are indeed a wretched hive of scum and villainy, and generally a waste of your time and blood pressure points.)

4. Take action yourself and involve your community.Sign trail use registers to help management agencies track visitors for funding, practice LNT while you’re out there, and encourage others to get out there and do the same. Start book clubs and encourage outings to talks that help you learn about how to help the environment on a personal level. If you don’t have time to do all of this yourself, try to find organizations or clubs near you that do things like track legislation or politician’s votes, that gather locally-collected data, or that educate the public on environmental issues. Take your findings to local city council meetings, to local fairs and festivals, and other community events, to get as many people aware and involved as possible.

The biggest hurdle is apathy – feeling like you can’t do anything. But we can all do something, even if that something feels like a drop in the ocean, and the more of us drops that try, the bigger the impact we have.

If I missed anything, feel free to let me know in the comments. Otherwise, I’ll have a proper blog post up for you in a few hours.

I agree with what you say. I think it’s going to be a rough 2017. But I think the Republicans are going to be the dog that catches the car. They’ve been fighting for all this stuff for years, and now they have the power. Now they actually have to govern. I say, OK, bring it. You try your policies you’ve been whining about, and let’s see how the American people like it.

My hope is that this is the actually the death throw of the right wing. Their words are pretty, but people won’t like the results. We probably can’t change much for two years, but America will survive two years, and then I predict the pendulum swings back hard.

I hate to be so political on your PCT blog, but you kind of asked for it.

That’s pretty tame politically, I feel, and I agree with you – both in that I did (basically) ask for it, and re: what you succinctly said. I definitely hope the pendulum swings back hard on a lot of points, but particularly re: our public lands. I’m not sure that our left wing as it currently exists has what it takes to come back from this election, but it needs an overhaul anyway. We’ve got two years to be the change we want to see, and I hope we manage.

We’ll just have to see where this all goes. I like many others was expecting a total collapse of one political party, but saw the other one disintegrate instead.

Right now I can’t believe how quickly things have gotten so totally crazy, but evolution kicks in when there’s a threat to existence itself. Lots of things will change, and get worse, but we might see a whole bunch of good newness in the end. Maybe you’d like to run next time. You know? Why not? Hey.

Anyhow, thanks for sharing all your experiences, and let’s see what happens next.

I’m not sending it with any hidden agenda (It is possible to read it either way, and I at least think it’s funny either way.), but it is definitely a masterful piece of writing that you might like just for its style. ‘Cuz you write good too.

Brown Girl on the (P)CT is a record of Amanda "Zuul" Jameson's prep, training, and successful thruhike attempts, as well as her more recent position working to teach others to Leave No Trace. The writings are intersectional, often meandering into her experiences of being black-yet-ethnically-ambiguous in the US.

Ultimately, the hope is for this blog to encourage folks of all colors, all walks of life, to experience our wild spaces and preserve them for the future.